LOS ANGELES - SEVEN years after being catapulted to fame with her hit comedy 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', Nia Vardalos returns to the big screen this month with another film taking the Canadian back to her roots.

Vardalos, 46, became an overnight success in 2002, when the romantic comedy she wrote and starred in went on to become a monster hit, earning more than 350 million dollars worldwide after being made for only five million dollars.

The success of the film - which also earned Vardalos a best original screenplay nomination at the Oscars - allowed Vardalos to take her time deciding her next career move.

Although she starred in a short-lived television spin-off of 'Greek Wedding,' Vardalos has been largely inactive since 2002 preferring to focus on starting a family before relaunching her career with 'My Life in Ruins'.

Her new film, which goes on release in North America on June 5, sees her play a Greek-American history professor who returns to Greece to work as a tour guide in Athens.

Vardalos said the script for the film, which includes several scenes shot at the Acropolis and other historic sites, had fired her enthusiasm after years out of the spotlight as she attempted to start a family.

Vardalos said that despite the commercial success of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding,' her business relationships with her producers, who include actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, have not changed.

But she says she has resisted the temptation to try and regurgitate the formula from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' in an attempt to score another commercial bullseye.

'I think that reviewers and the industry think that romance is dead,' Vardalos said. 'I think the audience wants it and needs it. I know I do.' -- AFP